Love Lies Bleeding is Rose Glass’s second feature film following Saint Maud. It is a strange mix of lesbian romance and crime thriller. The movie stars Kristen Stewart and Katy M. O’Brien and tells the story of love in a new way, showing it as both brutal and sweet, with bodybuilding dreams and organised crime as the backdrop.
Lou, a weary gym manager in a dusty Nevada town, falls for Jackie, a fiercely ambitious bodybuilder chasing her Las Vegas dream. Their affair is raw, physical, and magnetic—but quickly tangled in blood. Jackie kills Lou’s abusive brother-in-law in a fit of protective rage, and Lou cleans up the mess with a cold precision that signals her shift from passive to active defiance.
What begins as passion turns into survival: Lou’s father runs the town’s criminal network, and their romance is dragged into his violent empire. Jackie’s steroid-fueled hallucinations heighten the surreal tone—at one point, she even imagines vomiting up Lou’s likeness on stage. Lou, haunted by her mother’s murder and years of patriarchal control, finally chooses rebellion, standing with Jackie in a showdown that’s equal parts bloody and liberating.
The film ends with a surreal sequence: Jackie, transformed into a giant, sprints through the clouds alongside Lou—a bizarre yet poetic image of love breaking free from violence and oppression.
Love Lies Bleeding Cast
Charactor
A gym manager stuck in her father’s criminal shadow, Lou evolves from passive survivor to active fighter.
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart (Twilight Saga, Spencer) continues to prove her range beyond mainstream fame. Here, she embodies vulnerability and rebellion with quiet intensity, cementing her place as one of the most daring actresses of her generation.
A bodybuilder chasing her Vegas dream, Jackie is both tender lover and uncontrollable force, shaped by steroids, ambition, and raw desire.
Katy M. O’Brian
Katy M. O’Brian (The Mandalorian, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) draws on her real bodybuilding past to make Jackie utterly believable. Her physicality and performance elevate the film’s violent surrealism.
A crime boss who represents systemic patriarchal violence.
Ed Harris
Veteran actor Ed Harris (The Truman Show, Westworld) adds gravitas to the role, embodying corruption and control with chilling authority.
Lou’s sister, trapped in an abusive marriage, whose suffering mirrors the film’s theme of female oppression.
Jena Malone
Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, The Hunger Games) brings tragic nuance to Beth, making her a haunting figure in the sisters’ shared trauma.
Director
Rose Glass
Rose Glass, the British director behind Saint Maud (2019), is known for her daring blend of horror, surrealism, and feminist perspective. With Love Lies Bleeding, she reimagines the crime thriller through a lesbian lens—mixing violence, passion, and grotesque imagery to challenge traditional male-centered narratives.
BEST SCENES
📍 Jackie’s hallucination on stage: her body trembling, her vision warped, culminating in a grotesque vomit-vision of Lou—both horrific and strangely romantic.
📍 The canyon disposal: Lou pushing the car and body into the mountain crevice, symbolizing her break from passive silence to decisive rebellion.
📍 Final giant run: surreal and operatic, Jackie towering above the world, Lou beside her, love transformed into myth.
Love Lies Bleeding Review
Review
⭐ Story (4/5)
The narrative is both messy and mesmerizing. It fuses romance, crime, and body horror into a chaotic yet coherent whole. Not everyone will appreciate its surrealism, but it’s undeniably bold.
⭐ Acting (5/5)
Kristen Stewart delivers one of her most compelling performances in years—fragile yet fierce. Katy M. O’Brian, with her real-life bodybuilding background, brings authenticity and explosive intensity to Jackie.
⭐ Chemistry (4.5/5)
Their relationship is rough, carnal, and full of jagged edges—nothing like the tender GL romances mainstream audiences expect. But the intensity of their bond feels palpable and dangerously real.
⭐ Production (4/5)
Rose Glass’s use of 80s aesthetics, fragmented editing, and hyper-saturated imagery creates a fever dream atmosphere. The violence is graphic, sometimes indulgent, but never hollow.
⭐ Ending (4.5/5)
The giant Jackie finale is divisive—absurd to some, transcendent to others. For me, it’s a radical metaphor for women breaking patriarchal chains. It may not satisfy everyone, but it lingers long after.
💬 My Take
This film is not for everyone. It rejects the softness many expect in lesbian cinema, instead offering grit, blood, and surreal violence. For me, that’s exactly why it matters. It dares to show women as brutal, flawed, and dangerous—roles usually reserved for men.
It’s true, most men hate it; even many women find it “too much.” But for those of us who crave something unflinching, Love Lies Bleeding is both love story and war cry.
Love Lies Bleeding Information
🎖 Awards & Recognition
74th Berlin International Film Festival – Teddy Award for Best Feature Film (Nomination) – Rose Glass
78th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) – Best British Film (Nomination) – Rose Glass
40th Independent Spirit Awards – Breakthrough Performance (Nomination) – Katy M. O’Brian